Cruise Ship -Kumamoto-

Welcome to “Cruise Ship -Kumamoto-” page. All of your cruise ships will call at Yatsushiro port located in the south approx. 50 km away from Kumamoto city. We have some special-feature tours lined up for you! Would you like to avoid any congestion on your tour all the way in Japan? It’s absolutely nice to visit famous spots though, in that case you would have to put up with being in the crowd of other tourists all the time, which would not give you comfortable time on your holiday. Let me offer gorgeous private tours guided by a professional English speaking guide as the followings. You can customise your favourite experiences from among those.

Note:This plan is for a small group ( up to 7 persons unless big luggage )
If you would like to join this with over 8 persons, paying extra charge for renting a 10-seater vanis recommended.

SUITON -River Trekking-

NOTE: This experience will be available from May.

Off to the beautiful mountain stream and enjoy river trekking! No worries, you are safe in a wetsuit, life jacket, knee pads and helmet.
This experience is provided by Hinokuni-ya (火之国屋), and I am also an instructor here at Hinokni-ya.

AGE RESTRICTION:Over Age 10
DURATION: 3 hours

STRAWBERRY PICKING

NOTE: This service is available until the end of MayStrawberries, one of Yatsushiro’s local specialties. This fresh, sweet and delicious fruit is blooming right now! You can choose a plan or both plans from among the options below.

PLAN A: All you can EATOn this plan, you can eat as much strawberries as you can inside the farmer’s green house within 1 hour limit. But you can NOT take any strawberries away without paying for. I guarantee you will definitely be full eating delicious berries!

PLAN B: TAKE-AWAYOn this plan, you can pick up strawberries inside the farmer’s green house and pay for them according to the weight of your picking. The rate is 170 JPY per 100 gram, this is very reasonable comparing to which sold at supermarkets. Just take a look at the following pictures for comparison, you will find how reasonable this plan is. High quality berries are sold at 840 JPY (approx. 7 US dollars) per 5 berries. While, those picked berries are only 1,800 JPY / 1,605 gram, with heaps of grains of berries.
You can also take those picked berries back to the cruise ship, but NOTE you CANNOT take them back to your country. Please make it sure to eat them up before your cruise ends.

KIMONO DRESSING

Kimono is a Japanese traditional garment, usually worn at special occasions such as weddings, tea ceremony and annual events. We don’t often wear Kimono because of its price, as women’s Kimono can exceed 10,000 US dollars. On this optional experience, you will learn the basic knowledge of Kimono, how to wear Kimono, walk outside in Kimono, photography in Kimono and have a Tea Ceremony in Kimono, at a traditional Kimono shop, Suisen (粋染).

Lecture about Japanese culture

Lecture about Kimono

Kimono dressing

Kimono dressing 2

Photography in Furisode

Photography in Haori-Halama

Tea ceremony at Suisen

Tea ceremony at Suisen 2

And also, Kimono clothes are for sale in the shop. They range from casual and reasonable ones to decent formal ones. So you can get fitting service if you would like to buy those.

KATANA -JAPANESE SWORD SMITH-

NOTE: This tour will be available from mid April.

Katana, considered to be one of the most beautiful weapons in the world. Up until 1876, Samurai had always carried a pair of swords on their left loin as the symbol of their status as a ruling position. But after that, possession of Katana was strictly banned by the new government except for policemen and high ranking service persons. To make the matters worse, after WWⅡ, US army tried gathering Katanas as possible as they could because they assumed Katana was a dangerous weapon. Moreover, some of Japanese Katana holders decided to throw Katana away before they are gathered by US army. Therefore, many Katana were lost or destroyed. But now Katana is more an art than a weapon, on a par with paintings and ceramics.

On this experience, you can visit a local sword smith, who are still working in their traditional methods for making each Katana, and see how they manufacture the Katana. And hopefully, you may be able to take a look at their hand-made Katana collection if the master allows that.

And besides, you have a chance to purchase their Katana products. Although it takes time and costs, because all of the Katana have to be entered in the national register right after they are finished and have to be deleted from the register in order to be exported to overseas. Every single Katana is required to do this procedure in order to be exported. So I can do all the procedure for you to get beautiful Katana. To do this, I will keep you updated.

MORITAKA HAMONO

Moritaka Hamono, a knife shop with a 700-year history. They were originally making Samurai swords until the late 19th century, but they shifted to kitchen knife making as Samurai was not allowed to possess the swords then, their symbol and spirit. Handed-down sword-making technique from generation to generation for nearly 600 years helps them make the both SUPER SHARP and LONG-LASTING kitchen knives and that made them one of the most highly rated knife makers in Japan.

Nowadays, their products are sold very well worldwide, dealing with around 60 countries. If you would like to make a purchase of their knives on their online shop, you will have to be patient for 8 months to get the knives in your hand. But if you decide to join in this tour, you can buy their products on the spot in the shop (as long as they have stock) right next to the workshop. And besides, you can set foot in their workshop and see how they make the knives. Normally, they refuse any visitors into the workshop, but this is a special feature if you join this tour with me since I’ve known them for over 23 years.